I am Marianne Jeffery and I grew up in the vast expanse of rural Ottawa Valley. There is nothing like being able to step outside and immediately see all the stars, or go for a walk on a dirt road and see 5 cars in an hour. Some days, it was quite isolating; being away from everything and everyone. You learned to be by yourself, get creative and find different ways of staying engaged and connected with others.
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- I got to play with baby goats last summer (2021).
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- I spent over 13 years in Almonte and love this town. Do you know who I am sitting next to?
I began my journey to becoming a teacher in 2020, the year where ‘things stood still’ literally and I have found the experience similar to growing up in the country. I feel uniquely prepared for the pandemic than most, but still isolated from all of my favourite people. When I wasn’t studying, I spent a lot of time walking the fields of the Experimental Farm in Ottawa. It was a meditative practice to get me out of my head or to find creative solutions for various projects.
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- Was like a little bit of the country in the city for me. I have spent a lot of time here.
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- A coffee and a walk at the experimental farm was one of my favourite practices while in school to become a teacher during the pandemic.
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- Walking the Experimental Farm to clear my head.
Having done a diploma, a degree and now my B.Ed, one of my favourite things to do, has been to take all of my books and laptop (or my journal, pens and markers and whatever inspiring book I have going at that time) and go sit at my favourite coffee shop for a couple of hours. Over the best Americano, I would be surrounded by others laughing, working, sharing in the café ambience. I love the feeling of being connected without necessarily having to interact. It is one of the greatest sub-cultures to be a part of.
As I come to your schools in 2022, wide-eyed and ready to learn and teach my best, I have learned a few things about myself as a student teacher. Play sets a tone for your learning classroom, over-planning and strict adherence to any plan does not serve anyone and my greatest teachers are my students (and school community). I have learned in my year two practicum classroom, that play for the first 15 minutes of the day sets a tone for the day. It gives students time to get settled, reconnect with their friends and get ready to learn. I have been taught to plan… plan everything and strictly adhere to the plan. However, I have learned that it leaves little room for error, spontaneity, and actual teaching and student-centered learning or play-based learning, especially for the junior grades. Some planning is important, but the ability to change the plan at a moments notice is essential to your students learning needs. And finally, my greatest teachers are my students. They let me know when a lesson falls flat, they let me know when they are just not getting something and we have to try again in a different way and they let me know when they are getting something, because they get excited about it. All students like to feel and know that they are learning and it is my job to help them from where they are at, not where I ‘think’ they should be.
My blog will explore a combination of personal and professional resources, tools, strategies and theories that reflect the psychology, spirituality, social justice, equity in education experience and opportunity, sustainable development, environmentalism, mental health and wellness that bring you my Teaching Style and Pedagogy. Teaching is a learning lifestyle. I welcome you to join me on this Better Your Learning journey.